CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – Lindsey Vonn crashed for the second straight day, but once again appeared to avoid serious injury.
The American lost control and slammed into the safety netting during a World Cup downhill race Saturday in the same exact spot where she crashed in Friday’s training run.
After collecting herself, Vonn skied down to the finish area. She had posted the fastest split time shortly before her crash.
Vonn has won a record 11 races in Cortina.
The four-time overall World Cup winner returned earlier this month from nearly a year out with knee and arm injuries.
Overall defending World Cup champion, Switzerland’s Lara Gut finished 0.05 seconds ahead of Italy’s Sofia Goggia and 0.47 seconds in front of Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec.
The super-G event is scheduled for today.
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany – Hannes Reichelt led from the start to win a downhill race for his first World Cup victory of the season on Saturday.
The Austrian went first and completed the Kandahar course in 1 minute, 53.83 seconds, beating Italy’s Peter Fill by 0.16 and Switzerland’s Beat Feuz by 0.52.
Paris Dominik of Italy was fourth, 0.76 back, ahead of Kjetil Jansrud of Norway.
Friday’s winner, American Travis Ganong, finished 1.31 seconds off the pace in 12th.
There were no major crashes in contrast to the day before when Valentin Giraud-Moine and American Steven Nyman were airlifted to the local hospital in Garmisch with serious knee injuries.
LIBREVILLE, Gabon – Burkina Faso was the first team to advance into the semifinals at the African Cup of Nations after Aristide Bance came off the bench to score late and Prejuce Nakoulma added a second on a breakaway to beat Tunisia, 2-0, on Saturday.
Bance hit a low shot into the bottom corner from a free kick in the 81st minute to break a deadlock at Stade de l’Amitie.
Nakoulma sprinted away on a counterattack four minutes after that, avoided a tackle from Tunisia goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi way out near the middle of the field, and side-footed into an empty net.
Burkina Faso, which lost in the final two tournaments ago, will play the winner of today’s Egypt-Morocco quarterfinal.
Cameroon also advanced to the semifinals by defeating Senegal on penalty kicks, 5-4, following a scoreless 120 minutes of play. Senegal’s star player Sadio Mane’s failed to convert on his team’s fifth and final attempt after his shot was saved by Cameroon goalkeeper Joseph Ondoa.
Cameroon will play the winner of today’s quarterfinal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ghana.
LOS ANGELES – Wayne Gretzky will coach the Metropolitan Division team in the NHL All-Star Game today. He is replacing Columbus’ John Tortorella, who is skipping the weekend festivities because one of his dogs is ailing.
The NHL announced the move Saturday before Gretzky coached a celebrity hockey game at Staples Center.
Tortorella’s decision came late in the week, forcing the NHL to scramble for a replacement to coach one of the four divisional teams in the 3-on-3 tournament format.
Gretzky is the leading scorer in NHL history and the former coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. He also played eight seasons for the host Los Angeles Kings.
Montreal’s Michel Therrien, Minnesota’s Bruce Boudreau and San Jose’s Peter DeBoer are the other three coaches.
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – The scoreboard flashing results during the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey team’s “Miracle on Ice” run to Olympic glory is being replaced.
The 37-year-old board hanging over center ice at the Lake Placid Olympic Center will be removed on Feb. 6 to make way for a state-of-the-art video display.
The Olympic Regional Development Authority, which operates Lake Placid’s state-owned sports venues, says South Dakota-based Daktronics designed and built the display used for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. It showed the scores when the U.S. beat Russia in the hockey semifinals, then Sweden for the gold medal.
Daktronics will get one of the scoreboard’s four panels, while another will go to the Lake Placid Olympic Museum. Locations for the other two panels haven’t been determined.
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Vince Lombardi’s 1956 New York Giants World Championship ring generated the most money at a recent auction of his memorabilia.
USA Today Network-Wisconsin reported the ring sold for over $50,100. Lombardi was the Giants’ offensive coordinator and became head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1959.
The seven Lombardi-related items raised a total of nearly $127,600. Terry Melia of SCP Auctions says they raised more money than expected.
Lombardi’s son, Vince Lombardi Jr., put the items up for auction himself, saying they were in a safe deposit box “collecting dust.”
The other items included a George Halas Night Patek Philippe wristwatch, a congratulatory telegram from President John K. Kennedy, a Green Bay Packers 14-karat gold and diamond cuff link, a Green Bay Packers 14-karat gold and diamond pendant, a Bishop’s Charity Game Bulova wristwatch and New York Giants handwritten playbook notes.
DENVER – The Colorado Rockies made their deal with Greg Holland official on Saturday, signing the right-handed reliever coming off reconstructive elbow surgery to a one-year, $7 million contract.
Holland was the closer for Kansas City through most of 2014 and 2015, when the Royals made back-to-back trips to the World Series. He injured his right elbow in late 2015 and missed all of last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Before his injury, the 31-year-old was considered as one of the most dominant closers in the game, posting a 1.21 ERA in 2013 and a 1.44 ERA in ‘14.
Holland bolsters a Colorado bullpen that blew 28 saves last season.
His deal includes an additional $7 million in performance bonuses. Holland has an option for 2018 that could become guaranteed.
SAN DIEGO – Patrick Rodgers had a clean scorecard to match a picture-perfect day at Torrey Pines and shot a 5-under 67 to share the lead with defending champion Brandt Snedeker going into the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open.
Rodgers is the latest from the high school class of ‘11 with a chance to shine. He said he picked up a little extra motivation watching one of his best friends, Justin Thomas, sweep the Hawaii swing this month.
But he not only has to get by Snedeker, a two-time winner at Torrey, but a host of others right behind him.
Snedeker’s three birdie putts were inside 6 feet and he didn’t get much out of the quality of his shots in a round of 70. They were at 9-under 207.
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Stacy Lewis had two back-nine eagles Saturday in the LPGA Tour’s season-opening Pure Silk Bahamas Classic to put herself in position to end a long winless streak.
Lewis shot a 10-under 63 at Ocean Club to match Thompson atop the leaderboard at 23-under 196, one off the tour 54-hole record for relation to par set by Annika Sorenstam in Japan in the 2003 Mizuno Classic.
Lewis was second in the event in 2014 and tied for second last year, one of her 11 runner-up finishes since her last victory in June 2014. She has 11 tour victories, including two majors.
Lewis holed out from the fairway for an eagle on the par-5 11th, birdied the next two, and dropped a stroke on the par-4 14th. She birdied the par-3 17th and made a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th. She had four birdies on the front nine.
Thompson followed her tournament-record 61 on Friday with a 66.
Gerina Piller was a stroke back, birdieing the final two holes for her second straight 65. Brittany Lincicome, the leader after each of the first two round, had a 69 fall two shot behind.
IGLS, Austria – German luger Tatjana Huefner won the women’s singles race at the world championships on Saturday for her eighth career individual gold medal and first in five years.
Leading after the first run, Huefner posted the second-fastest time in the final run to beat Erin Hamlin of the United States by 0.213 seconds and Kimberley McRae of Canada by 0.240. Hamlin won the gold medal in Friday’s sprint event.
Olympic and defending world champion Natalie Geisenberger was only 17th before setting a track record of 39.822 seconds in the final run to finish sixth, 0.294 behind her German teammate.
Huefner has won 11 medals at world championships (a silver and two Bronze) and three at the Olympics, including gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
KOENIGSSEE, Germany – World junior champion Johannes Lochner again defeated three-time world champion Francesco Friedrich and American pilot Steven Holcomb for his second two-man bobsled World Cup victory on Saturday.
Lochner, who claimed his first victory in St. Moritz, Switzerland last weekend, and brakeman Joshua Bluhm were fastest on both runs for a combined time of 1 minute, 38.54 seconds.
German teammates Friedrich and Thorsten Margis were tied for second with Americans Holcomb and Carlo Valdes 0.23 seconds behind.
Friedrich still leads the standings with 1,095 points after six races, ahead of Holcomb at 1,075 and Alexey Stulnev at 1,000.